The invention herein pertains to securing a loop in a rope and particularly pertains to securing a non-slip loop in the end of a rope by use of a mechanical device.
Hand tying various types of knots has always been used to secure ropes, cords, strings, wires and the like. One such usage of ropes is to tie helicopter rotor blades down to prevent accidental turning of the rotor blade at a landing or storage site to prevent excessive blade movement during windy weather and subsequent damage to the rotor blade. Conventionally, a helicopter blade Asleeve@ or Aboot@, is placed over the tip of each blade and a rope connected to the boot is then urged through a tie-down ring on the helicopter airframe. The rope is then manually drawn into a taut condition and while taut the end of the rope is wrapped therearound and tied with one or more knots. Since a typical helicopter has four blade tips, each boot is tied manually, with varying tension applied to each blade during tying. The rope often slips and becomes loose, requiring that particular rope to be retied. Also, desired equal tension on all four ropes is practically impossible to achieve and one or more boots may slip from the blade tips during gusty weather due to the uneven tension applied.
Thus, with the problems and disadvantages associated with prior art methods used in maintaining ropes under tension, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a rope-securing device which will allow the user to conveniently form and hold a loop in the end of a rope.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a rope-securing device which includes a base in the form of a rigid block which defines a series of cutouts for retaining a rope half loop and a plurality of slides for engaging the half loops therein.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a rope-securing device having slides which include warning symbols or indicia to allow the user to quickly observe whether or not the rope is secured within the securing device.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a rope-securing device having a cover plate which will engage the slides within defined slots.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a rope-securing device which can be easily used by inexperienced personnel to form a loop in a rope without the necessity of tying knots.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a rope-securing device in a second, simpler embodiment to allow a non-slip loop to be positioned in the end of a rope requiring fewer steps.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing a rope-securing device which in the preferred embodiment includes a base formed of a rigid material having four cutouts for receiving rope half loops. A pair of slides are positioned on the base, each move in a transverse path across a pair of cutouts to engage the rope half loops. In use, a rope is formed into a half loop and urged into a cutout along one side of the base. The slide is then moved fully to the opposite side until a stop block on the base strikes the cover plate and then positioned beneath the half loop. A second half loop is then manually formed in the rope a short distance from the first half loop, towards the proximal end of the rope. The second half loop is then placed in a second cutout which is longitudinally aligned on the same side of the base. The second slide is then urged beneath the second half loop completely to the other side. Next, the proximal end of the rope extending from the second cutout is then passed through a tie-down ring or other attachment whereupon a loop is formed in the rope between the second and third cutouts. A third half loop is then formed in the rope beyond the tie-down ring which is then placed in a third cutout on the base on the other side. The second slide is then urged from its contact position against the cover plate and is slid beneath the third half loop. A fourth half loop is then formed in the rope near the proximal end and is placed in the fourth cutout. The first slide is moved from the cover plate to a position underneath the fourth half loop. Slack from the rope may be removed by pulling whereupon the securing device will then hold the rope in place and prevent the formed loop from slipping.
In a second embodiment of the invention for less critical applications only two cutouts are provided in the base and the proximal end of the rope extends from the second half loop through an attachment such as a tree limb, back to a longitudinal channel in one side of the base. A knot is manually tied as the rope exits the channel to prevent slippage of securing device along the rope.